Copy process



p '15, 1964 A. 1. ROSHKIND 3,148,617

coPY PROCESS Filed Oct. 25, 1962 INVENTOR CYl/an I. Ros/llama United States Patent 3,148,617 COPY PROCESS Allan I. Roshlrind, Glenview, Ill., asslgnor to A. B. Dick Company, Niles, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 25, 1962, Ser. No. 233,036 6 Claims. (Cl. 101--149.4)

This invention relates to an office copy process, and more particularly to a process which may be employed to reproduce printed material from matter previously printed in a substantially continuous or batch operation.

The invention will be described with reference to a specific problem arising in the continuous production of addresses on an endless strip of paper, as by electrostatic means, after which the strip is subdivided into separate labels which are applied to the mailing pieces. Oftentimes it is desirable also to secure the addresses on other promotional or mailing items and the like, without pasting a label thereon or without the necessity to make a complete re-run for producing such additional sets of labels for application onto the promotional pieces and the like.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method and means whereby such printed matter can be reproduced on such additional pieces directly from the printed matter continuously produced onto the strip, whereby the copy of the printed matter is provided on such additional pieces without the necessity for making a re-run and without the necessity for sticking such labels onto such additional pieces.

Generally described, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved means for the reproduction of printed matter which is especially adapted for ofiice copy Work, and it is a related object to provide a process of the type described which is capable of continuous operation, which is simple and efficient in operation, and which affords excellent reproduction of the printed matter Without destruction or interference with the use of the original.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter appear and, for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawing, in which FIGURE 1 is a flow diagram illustrating one ramification of the practice of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a flow diagram similar to that of FIG. 1 illustrating a further ramification in the practice of this invention; and

FIGURE 3 is a flow diagram similar to that of FIGS. 1 and 2 showing a still further ramification of the practice of this invention.

The basic elements of this invention comprise 1) an Original 0 in the form of a sheet having an image 12 containing a material which absorbs infra-red or other radiations that generate heat upon absorption and hereinafter defined as a radiation absorbing-heat generating material; (2) a transfer sheet T formed of an infra-red transparent base sheet having a continuous transfer coating 22 which is infra-red transparent but which contains a coloring ingredient or tinctorial agent to impart color and which is reducible to an adhesive or flowable state for transfer when heated to an elevated temperature, preferably above 150 F.; and (3) a copy sheet C in the form of a paper or other sheet adapted to receive the color image.

The substantially infra-red transparent, colored transfer coating 22 of the transfer sheet can be formulated of a conventional base of the type used in carbon paper or as a transfer sheet in spirit duplication, but instead of making use of carbon or other infrared-absorbing material as the tinctorial agent, use should be made of a synthetic or organic dyestulf which is not infra-red-absorbing, such as an aniline dyestutf, azo dyestuff, and the like. For example, the base of the coating may be formulated of a thermoplastic resin or wax, with or without plasticizer, and combined to give a melting point range which starts at about F. or slightly above. The following will be representative of a suitable coating composition which can be applied in the desired coating weights as a hot melt:

Parts by weight The use of infra-red radiations directed onto an original to produce a heat pattern corresponding to the image in the original for use in producing copy has been described in the Miller Patent No. 2,740,896, wherein the heat pattern from the original is transferred directly to a copy in superficial contact therewith during radiation to cause a color-forming heat-responsive reaction to take place Within the copy sheet to produce copy. The use of infra-red to produce an imaged master by radiation of an original has also been described. In the Roshkind Patent No. 2,808,777 the original, a transfer sheet containing a lithographic or spirit coating and a master sheet are arranged in superficial contact one with the other during radiation to cause portions of the coating corresponding to the image to become heated for transfer to the master surface in contact therewith to produce the image master.

The concepts of this invention are addressed to a different process using infra-red, whereby portions of the colored coating of the transfer sheet corresponding to the radiated image are caused to transfer to a sheet, which will hereinafter be referred to as a master, and wherein the imaged master is subsequently brought into superficial surface contact with the copy sheet and externally heated whereby such transferred portions of the colored coating are re-transferred from the master to a copy sheet to provide the desired imaged copy. Having briefly described the basic concepts of this invention, reference will now be made to the drawings for a more detailed description thereof by reference to the specific problem arising in the addressing of additional matter from labels produced continuously on a strip by electrostatic means responsive to signals from data processing equipment.

In the drawing, the original 0 is illustrated as a continuous paper strip 10 having the image 12 produced as a continuous operation, as by electronic readout means, wherein an electrostatic image is transmitted by a cathode ray tube onto the dielectric coating on the surface of the paper base sheet and wherein the electrostatic image is subsequently developed by exposure to oppositely charged, finely divided colored particles which cling to the charged portions of the surface and are later fused or otherwise developed to define the permanent image 12 on the base sheet. The foregoing means and method for development of the original image 12 on the paper strip 10 is more fully described in the copending application of Englestad and Borneman, Serial No. 135,375, filed August 31, 1961, and entitled Fuser Unit for Electronic Printing Machine.

It will be understood that the original capable of use in the practice of this invention can be otherwise produced as long as the image 12 contains an infra-red absorbing-heat generating material and as long as the non-imaged portions of the sheet are substantially less infra-red absorbent than the image.

Suitable infra-red absorbing-heat generating materials which may be used for the development of the electrostatic image can be formulated of carbon black embodied in a suitable thermoplastic resinous carrier, such as asphaltum, shellac, polyterpenes, polyvinyl acetate, ethyl cellulose, and the like materials having a melting point range which is usually above about 200 F. Such developing pigments are usually mixed with glass beads, plastic beads, iron filings or a dielectric liquid as a vehicle for distribution and charging the developing pigment or powder. Suitable developing powders are well known and described in numerous patents, such as Patent No. 2,986,521.

In the ramification shown in FIG. 1, the strip 1i) having the developed reverse image 12 thereon is brought into superficial face-to-face contact with the transfer sheet T, with the transfer coating 22 in surface contact with the surface of the original strip carrying the image 12. While the two sheets are pressed into contact one with the other, as between glass plates or the combination of a glass plate and a shoe or the like, radiations 14 rich in infra-red are directed downwardly onto the assembly, as illustrated by the arrows. The radiations penetrate the glass hold-down plate 16 and the transfer sheet T and the transfer coating 22. Those striking the image 12 of the original are absorbed and converted into heat to form a heat pattern which corresponds to the image. The infra-red radiations striking the non-imaged portions of the sheet 10 continue through, so that little if any radiations are absorbed. The heat pattern that forms substantially instantaneously upon radiation transfers to the adjacent portions of the coating 22 to cause reduction of the corresponding portions of the coating to an adhesive or flowable state whereby portions of the coating corresponding to the image transfer from the transfer sheet T to the original to constitute a heat-softenable color coating 24 covering only the infra-red absorbing image portions 12 of the original. Thus when the original with the image 12 is subsequently separated from the transfer sheet T, the imaged portions 12 of the original are covered with a colored heat-softenable coating 24.

In the next step, the original 0 with the colored heatsoftenable coating 24 onthe imaged portions 12 is brought into superficial surface contact with the copy sheet 30 with the coated imaged portion in surface contact with the side of the copy sheet intended to receive the image. While the original and the copy sheet are pressed into contacting relationship one with the other, heat is introduced, as by means of the heated pressure rollers 32 suflicient to raise the temperature of the colored coating 24 to its softened or adhesive state, whereby portions of the coating corresponding to the image transfers from the original to the copy sheet to reproduce the image thereon. Thereafter, when the copy sheet 30 is separated from the imaged original, an image in the form of the color coating will have been reproduced on the copy sheet. More than one copy can be thus reproduced from the original until the colored transfer coating 24 thereon is exhausted.

In this arrangement, and in others hereinafter described, the original 0 with the image 12 thereon also functions as the master from which one or more copies can thereafter be thermographically reproduced' While the ramification has been described as a continuous process, it will be understood that the steps described are capable of individual and independent operation as by:

(1) Bringing an original into superposed relation with the transfer sheet;

(2) Radiation of the assembly with radiations sufficiently rich in infra-red to effect a substantially instantaneous generation of a heat pattern of some 75-or-more degrees F. above ambient temperature;

(3) Separation of the transfer sheet from the original to form the original with the colored transfer coating retained only by the imaged portions;

(4) Bringing the original into surface contact with a copy sheet by heating the assembly sufficient to raise the temperature of the colored coating to fusion or heating temperature; and

(5) Separating the original and the copy sheet.

Instead of making use of a heated roller 32, the imaged master and the copy sheet can be heated between platens, as in FIG. 2, or they can be heated by air, or by resistance heating, or by infra-red radiation as before, or by other suitable heating means. It will be understood that instead of directing the infra-red radiations downwardly onto the transfer sheet T for penetration of the transfer sheet to the image, the infra-red radiations may be directed upwardly onto the original for penetration of the original to the image 12. By way of still further modification, the original may be arranged uppermost or lowermost without significant change in the operation.

The ramification shown in FIG. 2 is substantially the same as that of FIG. 1, with the exception that the original 16) with the image 12 is positioned with the image 12 on the side away from and out of contact with the coating 22 on the transfer sheet, so that a direct image will be formed on the back side of the original, instead of a reverse image. In this arrangement, the radiations 14 directed onto the original are absorbed by the image portions 12 to generate the heat pattern. The heat pattern travels through the base sheet to the transfer coating 22 of the transfer sheet 20 to effect the described adhesion of the corresponding portions of the colored coating to the back side 16 of the original. Thus, upon separation of the original-master from the coated transfer sheet 2%), portions 26 of the colored coating, corresponding to the image, are retained on the back side of the original-master sheet.

This operates to leave the original image 12 free from the colored coating material. To produce a reproduction of the image, the copy sheet St is pressed into surface contact with the back side 11 of the original, as between heated platens 34, to cause transfer of the colored coating corresponding to the image from the back side of the original-master to the copy sheet to reproduce the image 36 thereon.

In the ramification described, the original also constitutes the master with which copies are reproduced. In the ramification shown in FIG. 3, a separate sheet 50 is used as a master, so that no modification occurs in the original in the reproduction process. As illustrated in FIG. 3, instead of having the original 10 with the developed image 12 brought into surface contact with the colored transfer coating 22 of the transfer sheet 20, a thin master sheet 50 is interposed between the imaged original and the coated surface of the transfer sheet. The original can be arranged with the image 12 in contact. with the surface of the master, as in FIG. 1, or away therefrom, as in FIG. 2, depending on whether it is desirable to secure a reverse or a direct image on the master sheet 50.

Upon directing radiations 14 onto the original sulficiently rich in infra-red to achieve a substantially instantaneous rise in temperature to above about F. in the imaged portions of the original, the generated heat pattern transfers to the coating on the transfer sheet, whereby portions of said coating corresponding to the heat pattern remain as a colored image 52 on the surface of the master sheet 50, upon separation.

Thereafter, the master sheet 50 is brought into surface contact with a copy sheet 30 concurrently with the application of heat, as by the heated platens 34, to cause portions of the colored image on the master to transfer to the copy sheet for reproduction of the image 54 thereon.

As previously described, the imaged master can be used again to produce additional copies until the heatsoftened colored coating 24, 26, or 52, corresponding to the image, is exhausted from the original or the master, as the case may be.

It will be understood that the process described is capable of being practiced with originals otherwise prepared, and that more than one transfer from different masters can be made to produce varied colored portions in the p d ction. It will be further understood that the concepts described can be adapted to reproduce other than for addressing and the like.

It will also be understood that various changes may be made in the details of construction, arrangement, and operation without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a continuous operation for reproducing copies from an original, the steps in the sequence set forth of (1) advancing an original continuously in a linear direction in which the image to be reproduced in the original contains radiation absorbing-heat generating material;

(2) continuously advancing an elongate transfer sheet at the same linear speed as the original with the transfer sheet having a continuous transfer coating containing a coloring agent and in which the coating is softenable for transfer at elevated temperature and which is located on the side adjacent the original;

(3) bringing the original and the transfer sheet into surface contact one with the other while continuously moving them together in a linear direction;

(4) directing radiations onto the original during linear movement together with the transfer sheet whereby the radiations striking the original are absorbed and converted into heat to cause softening of the corresponding portions of the transfer coating for transfer to the original;

(5) deviating the line of travel of the original and the transfer sheet during continuous linear movement whereby the transfer sheet separates from the original with portions of the transfer coating corresponding to the original being retained on the original;

(6) advancing continuously a copy sheet at the same linear speed as the original;

(7) bringing the copy sheet into surface contact with the side of the original having the portion transferred from the transfer sheet while continuously moving them in a linear direction;

(8) passing the copy sheet and the original together at the same linear speed between compression elements at least one of which is heated whereby portions of the material transferred to the original become resoftened for transfer to the copy sheet; and

(9) deviating the line of travel of the original and the copy sheet during continued linear movement to elfect separation thereof with the copy of the original retained on the surface of the copy sheet.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which the image of the original is on the side of the original in surface contact with the transfer coating whereby the transferred portions of the coating are received as an overcoating on the image in the original.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which the image is on the side of the original away from the transfer coating whereby the transferred portion of the coating is received on the back side of the original.

4. In a continuous operation for reproducing copies of an original, the steps in the sequence set forth of (1) advancing an original continuously in a linear direction in which the image to be reproduced in the original contains radiation absorbing-heat generating material;

(2) continuously advancing a strip in the form of a master sheet linearly at the same linear speed as the original;

(3) continuously advancing a transfer sheet at the same linear speed as the original in which the transfer sheet has a continuous transfer coating containing a coloring agent and in which the coating is softenable for transfer at elevated temperature and in which the transfer coating is located on the side adjacent the master sheet;

(4) continuously advancing the original, the master sheet and the transfer sheet along the line of travel to bring them into surface contact for movement together;

(5) directing radiations onto the original during movement together with the transfer sheet and the master sheet whereby radiations striking the original are absorbed and converted into heat to cause softening of the corresponding portions of the transfer coating for transfer to the master sheet;

(6) deviating the lines of travel of the continuously moving original, the master sheet and the transfer sheet whereby the master sheet becomes separated from the others;

(7) continuously advancing a copy sheet at the same linear speed as the master sheet;

(8) continuously advancing the copy sheet along the line of travel with the master sheet to bring the copy sheet into surface contact with the side of the master sheet having the portion transferred from the transfer sheet;

(9) passing the copy sheet and the master sheet together at the same linear speed between compression members at least one of which is heated whereby portions of the material transferred to the master sheet become resoftened for transfer to the copy sheet; and

(10) then deviating the line of travel between the continuously moving master sheet and the copy sheet to effect separation therebetween with the copy of the original retained on the copy sheet.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 in which the original is brought into surface contact with the transfer sheet with the image on the side away from the transfer sheet.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 in which the original is brought into surface contact with the transfer sheet with the image on the side in surface contact with the transfer sheet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,501,495 Carroll et al Mar. 21, 1950 2,844,094 Gruver July 22, 1958 3,048,695 Russell Aug. 7, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 624,372 Canada July 25, 1961 1,165,125 France May 27, 1958 

1. IN A CONTINUOUS OPERATION FOR REPRODUCING COPIES FROM AN ORIGINAL, THE STEPS IN THE SEQUENCE SET FORTH OF (1) ADVANCING AN ORIGINAL CONTINUOUSLY IN A LINEAR DIRECTION IN WHICH THE IMAGE TO BE REPRODUCED IN THE ORIGINAL CONTAINS RADIATION ABSORBING-HEAT GENERATING MATERIAL; (2) CONTINUOUSLY ADVANCING AN ELONGATE TRANSFER SHEET AT THE SAME LINEAR SPEED AS THE ORIGINAL WITH THE TRANSFER SHEET HAVING A CONTINUOUS TRANSFER COATING CONTAINING A COLORING AGENT AND IN WHICH THE COATING IS SOFTENABLE FOR TRANSFER AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE AND WHICH IS LOCATED ON THE SIDE ADJACEN THE ORIGINAL; (3) BRINGING THE ORIGINAL AND THE TRANSFER SHEET ITO SURFACE CONTACT ONE WITH THE OTHER WHILE CONTINUOUSLY MOVING THEM TOGETHER IN A LINEAR DIRECTION; (4) DIRECTING RADIATIONS ONTO THE ORIGINAL DURING LINEAR MOVEMENT TOGETHER WITH THE TRANSFER SHEET WHEREBY THE RADIATIONS STRIKING THE ORIGINAL ARE ABSORBED AND CONVERTED INTO THEAT TO CAUSE SOFTENING OF THE CORRESPONDING PORTIONS OF THE TRANSFER COATING FOR TRANSFER TO THE ORIGINAL; (5) DEVIATING THE LINE OF TRAVEL OF THE ORIGINAL AND THE TRANSFER SHEET DURING CONTINUOUS LINEAR MOVEMENT WHEREBY THE TRANSFER SHEET SEPARATES FROM THE ORIGINAL WITH PORTIONS OF THE TRANSFER COATING CORRESPONDING TO THE ORIGINAL BEING RETAINED ON THE ORIGINAL; (6) ADVANCING CONTINUOUSLY A COPY SHEET AT THE SAME LINEAR SPEED AS THE ORIGINAL; (7) BRINGING THE COPY SHEET INTO SURFACE CONTACT WITH THE SIDE OF THE ORIGINAL HAVING THE PORTION TRANSFERRED FROM THE TRANSFER SHEET WHILE CONTINUOUSLY MOVING THEM IN A LINEAR DIRECTION; (8) PASSING THE COPY SHEET AND THE ORIGINAL TOGETHER AT THE SAME LINEAR SPEED BETWEEN COMPRESSION ELEMENTS AT LEAST ONE OF WHICH IS HEATED WHEREBY PORTIONS OF THE MATERIAL TRANSFERRED TO THE ORIGINAL BECOME RESOFTENED FOR TRANSFER TO THE COPY SHEET; AND (9) DEVIATING THE LINE OF TRAVEL OF THE ORIGINAL AND THE COPY SHEET DURING CONTINUED LINEAR MOVEMENT TO EFFECT SEPARATION THEREOF WITH THE COPY OF THE ORIGINAL RETAINED ON THE SURFACE OF THE COPY SHEET. 